A Long Way From Home
by LadyLasgalen
Summary: Peter's been an orphan since the age of 9 and he's been bounced around so many homes he doesn't remember what it's like to have a real family. Then the Avengers come into his life and they're the best thing to happen to him.
1. Chapter 1

"7 AM!" A boy slammed open the doors of the house yelling as he went.

Peter groaned rolling over in his bed and pulling his pillow over his head. He could hear his roommates all crawling out of bed each one trying to race for the bathroom and claim it as their own.

"Peter get up, time for school!" Peter jolted awake, not sure when he'd dozed off again.

"Yeah yeah," he muttered slowly sitting up and shivering when he came in contact with the cold air. He wanted nothing more than to snuggle back into his blankets. He'd gotten back from patrol around 2:30 that morning and his body desperately wanted more sleep. "He stumbled out of bed and into the now vacant bathroom most of the kids already downstairs at the table eating. He brushed his teeth and ran a wet brush through his hair. Peter looked up into the mirror and sighed "He could look far worse and his hair had never been tameable even when he did have a decent shower.

He took the stairs two at a time and grabbed an apple from the middle of the table wiping it against his hoodie. It only had one bruise on it so Peter counted it as a win. He looked at the Calendar and cursed under his breath.

"Where's the money pile for rent?" He asked

"Over here." One of the younger girls held up the bucket and Peter added all the money he had in his wallet. He caught sight of the nearly full gallon of milk on the table and sighed "Alright who'd you steal from."

"The delivery guy. Come on Peter we're not stealing from him, we're stealing from the government."

"Sure, it's just-"

"Peter he doesn't give a damn, besides I service him generously." One of the older girls grinned and he rolled his eyes trying not to look too disgusted at her innuendo. He didn't want to offend her she was mean when she wanted to be.

"I don't want to know."

"Then stop asking, we do what we do to get by, besides you've already got Jill to quit stealing from the good neighbors."

"Yeah" Jill a deceptively cute 10 years old grinned "Now I only steal from the sex offender who lives down the block and carl."

One of the older girls ruffled Jill's pig tails "That's my girl."

"Hey, we're $12.67 short on rent."

"I've got photo's to sell to Jamison today so I can get the last of it." He told them as he headed for the door.

The New York air was cold and crisp and Peter walked briskly until he was out of the residential slums before ducking into a nearby alleyway and using his webs to get him the rest of the way to Midtown.

He never felt better than when he was in the air. He wished the rest of his life could be so easy.

"I WANTED THAT PICTURE!"

Peter heard the yell from the elevator and cringed. The lift doors opened and he stepped out on high alert to be yelled at.

"Peter." Jameson's secretary smiled pleasantly at him from her desk. Peter had no idea how she could stay so calm and kind when she worked with the man currently yelling at the top of his lungs. "You're just in time, the guy he's yelling at screwed up at getting the pictures Jonah wanted, Now you can swoop in and do a better job of it. Win win, you might even get a better paycheck out of it."

"Thanks for the heads up Betty." Peter grinned in triumph at this rate he'd be able to pay rent and have some money left over for groceries and bills. Score!

"I like you, Parker, you're a sweet kid." She told him.

"I'm 15"

"Still a kid." Betty laughed.

"GET OUT! You're Fired!" The door slammed open the small window shaking from the forceful impact of the door. Peter absentmindedly wondered if it ever broke or maybe they'd had to replace it so many times they used a more sturdy glass.

"Parker! Where have you been?!"

Peter jumped standing straight and looking at the man in question "Um at School."

Jameson shook his head as if what Peter had said was the most absurd thing he'd ever heard "Well get over here." He walked back in his office mumbling to himself Peter caught the tail end of it with his advanced hearing "really what's more important school or my newspapers, damned kids."

He followed Jameson quickly into his office scooting by the shaking photographer who'd just been fired. He couldn't help a twinge of sympathy for the man even though he was, in essence, taking his job.

"Alright, kid, I need you at the Stark Expo tonight."

"What?" Stark Expo, Peter cringed at the name. It seemed all he did was cringe lately.

"You're not exactly a full-time photographer but seeing as our last guy got himself caught by Tony freaking Stark and had his camera confiscated. That rude asshat! He's definitely hiding his nefarious activities. He and those Avengers are up to something I can feel it in my bones."

Peter gaped, was Jameson really trying to slander the Avengers?! Sure he did it to Spider Man all the time, but compared to that,... The Avengers! It was just unreal. "But sir they saved New York! They saved the world"

"Oh come on these so called heroes happen to show up right when we have an alien invasion. Please, they probably brought the damn things here, to begin with."

"But-"

"I don't have time for your morals Parker, are you going to get me these pictures or not! I'll give you 200$ if I like the ones you get."

Peter really didn't want to be apart of this, but $200 was a lot of money, he could really use that cash. "I'll do it, sir."

"That's a good man, now Betty will give you your press badge. Don't screw this one up Parker and I may have more jobs for you in the future."

"Of course, thank you, sir."

"Well don't just stand there with your mouth gaping, GO!"

Peter was glad when he shut the door behind him. Dealing with the head of the daily bugle exhausted him. "Hey, Betty."

"Congratulations Peter, Here's your press badge…" She seemed to hesitate and Peter tilted his head

"What is it?"

"You do own a suit right if you want to get anywhere near that expo you're going to need to look the part."

Peter winced he hadn't even thought about that. Crap. "Uh… no worries, I'll come up with something."

"Good luck."

"Thanks, Betty." Peter grinned.

"I need a suit!"

"Did you say $200!"

"Yes, but I need a suit. We can't afford a suit!"

"You can use Frank's"

"Frank has a suit?"

"The old one from his wedding. It's ancient and we'll have to hem it a little but it's something."

"What if he notice's?"

Tracey and Jessica looked at each other and then burst out laughing. "Peter you've been here for two months, and you've talked to Frank how many times."

"While he was lucid?" Peter couldn't help but laugh "Maybe once."

"Exactly." Jess grabbed Peter's hand "Come on let's go try it on. We'll have it ready by tonight."

"I wish I could meet Tony Stark."

"You just want to do Tony Stark."

"Ew gross." Peter wrinkled his nose at them.

"Come on Petey it's not that bad. He's handsome and rich"

"Don't call me Petey," Peter told her indignantly. He was glad for their help but he wasn't exactly close to the kids in the foster home. He spent so much time out of the house, but he had to admit they were the best Foster Family he'd ever been with. Maybe this one would last.

 **AN: I know this story has been done a lot, but I thought I'd try my hand at it. I have another Spider Man fic but after seeing Spider-Man Homecoming I've got so many more plot bunnies running around. I hope this has at least a few new elements. Let me know what you think or if you've got any ideas and I might throw them into the story. :D**

 **PLEASE REVIEW**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This is a quick update, but thanks for those who have already reviewed Chapter 1!**

 **I've already had a few questions about Team Cap or Team Iron Man and I'm honestly a little of both, I may lean more towards Tony's side, but I promise I won't hate on either team. But Civil war won't happen for a long time and when it does it won't be like the movie at all.**

 **This fic takes place after Age of Ultron canonically.**

Peter needed a plan. He wasn't stupid, there weren't any pictures of the Avengers outside of government and lawyer sanctioned press. And then there was the story Betty told him about Tony Stark confiscating cameras.

It was a good thing he had a little something the other guys didn't, unfortunately, he couldn't exactly just web a camera up somewhere, somehow, he figured that would probably not go unnoticed.

He needed something smaller.

But Peter was broke, and he didn't dare ask Jameson for an advance. He could ask someone at the house, they always seemed ok with lending out money, but he didn't feel comfortable with that, he hadn't known them long enough and something about asking for money just didn't sit right with him.

He needed to figure this out on his own.

First, he needed some lenses and a few old cameras. It's a good thing Peter's dignity was at an all time low otherwise he'd be embarrassed by dumpster diving.

"Man most kids are trying to break out of school, I'm the only one dumb enough to ever try and break into one," he spoke to himself as he slid open an office window and slipped into the Vice Principal's office. He carefully avoided Principal Morita's office, that guy always seemed to put Peter on edge.

The school had some security camera's but Peter knew most of them didn't work. Midtown was a nice school for Queens, but it wasn't the Taj Mahal and he was grateful for it. He snuck into the mechanics garage and searched through their scraps.

There wasn't a lot to work with, but Peter was a genius if he could build himself a computer with spare parts than he could handle this.

With the score he got from the dumpsters outside the local electronics stores and the stuff he took from the school he had managed to whip up some pretty good wifi based 'spy' cameras.

Flushing Meadows, New York. The area was crawling with people already and the event didn't start at least for another 3 hours. Peter needed to get a move on. He had his suit on hoping that if anyone spotted him they'd think maybe he was actually invited, being another superhero and all.

Ha!

The thought of the Avenger's even knowing about him was like a wet dream. Amazing, but in the end just a dream.

He used his senses to avoid security and slipped inside the main building. Peter felt especially filthy among the grandeur of the room. He couldn't even afford the napkins at this sort of event.

It was a good thing people didn't tend to look up. He always wondered why? How many times had he hidden from someone just by being stuck to the ceiling? People looked left and right and down, even under things, but rarely ever did they have the urge to look skyward.

Peter didn't know but it saved his ass far more times than he'd like to admit. He finished his job quickly making sure all the cameras were at the proper angles to get decent shots.

He was starting to cut it close on time and he still needed to change… and probably shower too. He sniffed himself and wrinkled his nose, yeah definitely a shower, he reaked.

"Aww"

"Shut up." Peter rolled his eyes and adjusted the suit jacket, it was big in the shoulders. "I feel stupid"

"You look adorable."

Peter gave Jess a look and she shrugged as she finished tying the bow tie. It was a little crooked but she couldn't quite make it sit straight. She turned him around so he could look in the mirror. They'd spent most of the day hemming the jacket and pants and clearing off the lint.

"I look like a tool."

"Come on, we could have made you wear the vest."

"No thank you."

"It's not that bad and look we even found some half decent shoes." She held out a pair of scuffed black dress shoes in Peter's size.

Jess grabbed one of the shoes and a black sharpie and started coloring in the scuff marks so they didn't stand out so badly. "Yeah, Danny stole them off old Mr. Habernaw next door, it was his funeral today. What's a dead guy need with shoes anyway? We thought about stealing the whole suit, but it's an open casket someone would notice if he was naked."

"I would not have worn a dead guys suit anyway, I kind of feel guilty about the shoes."

Tracey rolled her eyes "He's dead Peter. Now slip these on, he's about your size."

The shoes were a little tight but they would do. Peter looked at the clock on the stove and knew he needed to get going. "I wish we had a car to let you borrow."

"It doesn't matter, The Expo is in Queens it's not that far from here, just on the better part of the city."

"Still. Try not to get jumped, your noodle arms won't protect you."

Peter laughed "trust me, I'll be fine."

"I guess that's true, it's not like you got any money anyhow."

"Not yet! Just think $200. We won't take all of it Peter, but it'll be great to have hot water again."

Peter had to agree there, his earlier shower had been awful, and he really didn't mind spending all his money on stuff for the house. He liked knowing it was going to something good.

"Oh and if I get this done, Mr. Jameson said he'd give me some more jobs," Peter added smiling.

"Alright, I think you're ready."

"Thanks, oh hey I need to borrow the phone for the evening."

Jess nodded and went to the stair case and yelled "LIAM GIVE ME THE PHONE"

"HOLD ON"

"NOW, IT'S FOR PETER"

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT."

The little black beaten up flip phone sailed down the staircase. Peter caught it easily. "HOW MANY MINUTES DOES IT HAVE LEFT?" He asked

"19"

"THANKS" He yelled tucking it into his suit pocket for safe keeping. He needed it to set up a hotspot for his cameras then they would send any pictured he took straight to his cloud and he could access them later.

On his walk toward the expo, he pulled off the back of the phone and configured it so that he would get the best wifi signal he could.

He didn't have to do much but he took his time tinkering with the device to keep his mind off of other things.

The closer he got the more crowded. He got pushed a few times and he remembered the feeling well, it left a sour taste in his mouth.

Peter was 8 years old. It had been the best day of his life until it became one of the worst.

Uncle Ben and Aunt May had saved for months, it was Peter's birthday present. They couldn't get him into the actual building where Mr. Stark had been, but they got into Flushing Meadows and that was more than he could ask for.

Peter tugged at the sleeves of his suit as he walked past the demonstrations. SO much tech. He could marvel for hours, maybe once he got a few pictures he could come back and check it out.

It wasn't this advanced when he was eight and he couldn't understand some of it, but he could remember explaining a lot of it to his Aunt and Uncle. He'd even gotten a free light up Iron Man mask and gauntlet when he'd impressed one of the Stark scientists.

He showed security his Press Badge and they basically read him his rights. Despite his clothes and his recent shower he still felt like he shouldn't so much as touch anything in the vicinity. Everyone kept glancing at him, a skinny little 15-year-old in an obviously borrowed suit and a camera so out of date it would probably make Tony Stark feint.

Actually, most of his electronics would make the billionaire lose his mind.

He snapped some obligatory photos of the Avengers making an appearance. They looked out over the crowd of photos smiling for the press and Peter felt his breath catch in his throat. He felt like Jess and Tracey when they saw someone famous on TV.

He wanted them to see him. It was stupid, but he couldn't help it. He had admired them for most of his life. Captain America was like his icon and Tony Stark! It just didn't get much better than that.

There were more than just those two and Thor, but they didn't make public appearances. Somehow despite two of the Avengers not even wearing masks no one had any idea who they were. Peter wished he could have even half their skill.

But then again if had half of anything the Avengers had than most of New York City wouldn't hate him as much as they did.

The photo session ended pretty quickly. Peter took off his press badge stuffing it in his back pocket and meandering around until the main show started.

Peter grabbed a drink from one of the passing didn't drink it, he knew it was most definitely alcoholic, and he wasn't a fan of liquor but he felt like he looked a lot less stupid with something in his hand. He had one hand in his pocket clicking the remote for the cameras, taking photographs every so often. He'd have a lot of useless ones but maybe he'd get something good.

"Aren't you a little young to be drinking."

Peter looked to his left. The accent was strange but the woman had a nice voice and she was smiling so he figured he wasn't in trouble.

"I haven't drunk anything yet." He told her. She laughed but took the drink from his hand setting it aside.

"Good." She said, "What brings you here?" She wondered

"The tech," Peter admitted. He'd already seen 3 photographers being thrown out and he knew better than to let that slip. "Mechanical engineering is something I've always been interested in, although I'm much better with genetics and Chemistry. Can you imagine working at a lab like the ones at Stark Industries, I mean look at all the advancements, and you can bet Mr. Stark has way more than he's showing tonight... I'm sorry I'm rambling" Peter rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"You're smart." The woman commented. She couldn't be older than 21.

"Not that smart, what about you? Why are you here?"

"My… friend invited me, I don't plan to stay long, this-" She gestured around them "It's not really my area."

"So your friend is smart?"

"He thinks he is, kind of like Tony Stark." Her voice was kind of cold but Peter didn't feel afraid, maybe intimidated, her eyes were too sad.

"Not a big fan of Mr. Stark."

"I don't hate him, not anymore, but it's difficult to trust someone who's so…" The brunette trailed off as if contemplating the right word. "Arrogant"

"Yeah, that's true, but.. I don't know…" Peter looked up at the stage. Tony wasn't up there yet, but there were dancing girls and a massive light show built to impress. "He's a hero, and he doesn't have to be. Sure he's still kind of an asshole-"

"Language." She said then laughed at herself and he wondered why that was funny, but didn't ask.

"Sorry, I'm from south side so…"

"I don't know what that means."

"That's probably a good thing. Anyway.. What I mean is that… At least he's trying."

She seemed to be observing him and Peter felt like she could see straight through him. It unnerved him a little and he fidgeted under her gaze. She seemed to notice his discomfort and looked up at the stage. It seemed the show was about to start.

"Aren't we all." She said softly, her voice was low and Peter was sure that he wasn't supposed to hear it so he didn't say anything about her cryptic words. She was sort of weird, but then who was he to say that about anybody else. "My name's Wanda by the way, it was nice to meet you, Peter."

Peter was about to agree with her but paused his mouth half open wondering when he'd told her his name. "How did you-" And she was gone swallowed up by the crowd. He didn't have time to look for her as the crowd surged forward and his attention was quickly taken from Weird Wanda to Iron Man flying in for a spectacular entrance.

 **AN: Please Review, let me know what you think of Wanda. She's a difficult character to write.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I'm really bad at coming up with Headlines. If anyone wants to suggest some good Avenger Headlines courtesy of J Jonah Jameson I'll use them in my story and of course credit you for it. :)**

 **Oh, and for those asking, I haven't decided on any ships yet. or if there will even be ships. While I have a base line plot I normally just go with the flow or whatever I'm feeling at the moment. So who knows what will happen.**

"Tony, I thought you had FRIDAY vetting everyone for cameras?" Steve threw the newspaper onto the table. The headline big and bold and absolutely slanderous.

The featured photo was Thor one fist raised in celebration shattering a glass as he tended to do when he gets too excited.

"Thor's really upset." Bruce sighed sadly as he leaned against the table, a cup of tea in his hand. He could sympathise with bad press.

"I caught everyone FRIDAY alerted me too."

"Well maybe she missed one"

"FRIDAY doesn't make mistakes." Tony picked up the paper "Peter Parker must be smart or especially sneaky."

"Or both," Hawkeye commented.

Natasha made an appearance for a second to grab Thor's Mug and her own.

"How's he feeling?"

"How did I become the comforting crew?" Natasha asked in return.

"That's a good question, it's a new and surprising side of you Natasha."

Nat raised an eyebrow at Tony thrusting Thors coffee cup into Tony's hand. "Thanks for volunteering."

"What? No, come on, I was kidding, I'm terrible at comfort, way worse than you." He looked around for help "Alright" He said after a minute. "Don't blame me if I make it worse."

And those seemed to be the magic words as Steve grabbed the mug and rolled his eyes at Tony. Tony smirked at him, Steve did not look amused.

"Oh come on Cap don't be mad. If it makes it better I can track down this Peter guy who took the photo."

"And what? Threaten him, because that's going to make us look better."

"Wow, Sarcasm, I didn't know you had it in you."

"Just leave it alone, he got in a good photo at one party. It's not worth it."

"Fine"

Steve knocked gently on Thor's door. "I have coffee." He said through the door.

"Tis open," Thor told him. Steve slipped inside and sighed. Thor was always so pleasant to be around and it was hard seeing him look disheartened.

"I wouldn't worry about the Bugle Thor, It's a trash rag, they take any chance they get to slander someone."

"I'm not some sort of idiot heathen. I do not like that some people in Midgard will view me so lowly. It's disgraceful."

"Hardly anyone reads that rag. Tony only gets it because he's normally featured somewhere. And he likes all press, even bad press." He pressed the cup into Thor's hands hoping one of his favorite drinks would cheer the god up. Steve was glad Tony had specially engineered said mug for Thor's strength because his grip at the moment would have shattered any normal ceramics.

Tony must have decided that Steve needed help or Natasha had told him off for being a jerk earlier but the mechanic pushed his way into Thor's room with hardly a tap on the door.

Steve was betting on the later.

"Thor! I've got something for you to see big guy." Tony held up his Stark Pad for Thor to see. The page was riddled with comments about Thor all of them praising the god of Thunder.

"What are these?" Thor asked curiously.

"Your fans, they were very very upset at the Daily Bugle. You've got the internet fighting for you."

Thor read through them his smile growing bigger and bigger. He took a drink of his coffee. "This is a wonderful drink. Thank you, captain and you two man of Iron! I hope I haven't lowered the spirits of the tower."

Steve looked relieved. "Don't worry about it, Why don't we go burn some energy in the training rooms."

"You wish to lose then if you're wanting to go against me," Thor commented slyly but with boisterous energy.

Steve laughed. "We'll see."

Steve lagged behind Thor. "How did you know that would work?" He asked Tony quietly

"He was worried people would see him differently, and Thor's very prideful." Tony shrugged

"You said you weren't good at comfort."

"That wasn't comfort that was flattery, I excel at flattery."

Peter looked at the paper in dismay. He felt guilty making money by giving Thor a bad name. It was fine when it was just Spider-Man. Sure it sucked for him, but it was just Peter doing it to himself.

But Thor? That guy was a god, an honest to god, no pun intended, god.

And oh crap what if he was angry. He wondered if there were multiple Peter Parker's in the tri-state area, he really should look into a pen name.

"Peter you want the first hot shower!?"

Peter took one last look at the paper and sighed. At the very least the money had gone to a good cause. The kids in the house deserved some hot water.

"Sure!"

"Then hurry it up" came the laughing response and Peter smiled slightly before running up the steps.

Peter felt better than he had in awhile. All the kids at the house were happy and he felt clean. "Hey everybody." Peter greeted civilians as he swung through the streets. He considered it a win that most of them cheered and waved. He only had one old guy throw a piece of trash at him but he seemed to be a grouch anyway so Peter wasn't offended.

He went through his normal Patrol.

Bike robbery; averted. Kid in the street; saved.

"Hey- Wow-" Peter faltered landing in the street beside a guy arms crossed "Umm" He looked up at the man "Should I stop them?"

Two women were fighting smashing each others face into a dingy parked car. It was particularly vicious.

"You wanna lose an eye?"

"You're kidding, I'm Spider Man."

"Respect dude, but seriously they'll kill you." He said

One of the girls grabbed the other chicks hair and steered them away from the car screaming expletives. They came toward Peter looking like they might scratch his eyes out and he jumped out of the way.

"I see what you mean. Good Luck."

"You're badass."

"Appreciated." Peter gave a thumbs up he winced slightly when a particularly violent pull ripped a chunk of blonde hair out of one of the ladies scalp. "Yikes." He whispered.

Peter walked along the train tracks arms held out. His Spidey sense was completely quiet and he took his time. He hated days like this, It's not that he wanted crime, but he had so much energy and the small things he could help with just weren't challenging. He could lift a bus, maybe even more than that, but he'd never know what he could really do. It was frustrating.

True to his word J. Jonah Jameson began giving Peter more and more jobs to do. The teen didn't mind, though his teachers might. His grades were starting to slip.

It wasn't because Peter didn't understand the work, far from it, he just didn't have the time to do it. Despite the clear warnings from the school, he continued to just let it slide, he would make up for it on the tests, he could ace them with his eyes shut.

At the moment he had bigger problems than school work. He needed pictures of Hawkeye or Black Widow. Jameson had been yelling about it for weeks and while Peter managed some more pictures of Tony Stark, Captain America and Thor he'd still been unable to get a clear shot of the two super spies.

They were just blurs.

Luckily for him, no one else had managed it either, but Peter really needed a pay day soon.

He set his camera down on his desk with an irritated sigh.

"Camera troubles?"

"Spy troubles."

"What?"

Peter shook his head "Nothing never mind." He leaned against the back of the chair looking at his bunk mate Liam. "What's up?"

"House night out, remember?"

"Was that today?" Peter had only been to one house outing, they had them once every month. Something about being able to be kids and having fun. Peter wished he could be more on board with the idea, but he didn't want to get attached. He'd already been moved 5 times and it hadn't even been a year, he was lucky to still be in New York but he was terrified that his luck wouldn't last.

Plus having friends made it harder to hide his identity. If he kept to himself then he'd never have to worry about awkward questions.

The way Peter saw it he'd gotten far too comfortable as it was.

"Live a little Parker, even Jess loosens up sometimes and she basically runs this house."

"I think I'll pass."

"Not an option." Tessa and Liam grabbed Peter's arm and the boy let them pull him out of his chair. Peter barely managed to snatch his camera off the desk before he was yanked away.

In reality, he could lay them out easily, but he wouldn't. He was puny penis Parker and he had to keep it that way.

"Seriously guys, I've got work to do."

"All work and no play makes Peter a dull boy." Jess laughed.

MMMMM coffee, it didn't matter what time of day it was Clint loved his freaking coffee. And even as he hated to admit it Tony Stark had some of the best coffee, it was never too sweet there were just hints of vanilla to it and FRIDAY brewed it to perfection.

Technology was amazing.

"Friend it is time for fun!" Thor put a hand on Barton's shoulder and the spy nearly jumped out of his skin. His coffee cup shattered against the floor.

"Aww Coffee" Clint pouted. He hadn't even noticed Thor, mostly because he didn't have his hearing aids in. Clint had taken them out and forgotten about them, it just proved how safe he felt in Tony's tower.

Thor seemed to be apologizing and Clint patted him on the arm to let him know it was fine. He did feel bad for his spilled drink though. Such a shame.

Natasha had heard the crash and she just knew... it wasn't the first time. She strode confidently into the kitchen not even looking at Clint as she tossed his hearing aids at him. He caught them like she knew he would and placed them in his ears.

"So what's up?"

"Luna Park, Thor's idea."

"AWW YISS"

Thor grinned in triumph.

 **AN: Please Review! You're commenting keeps me motivated, and my inner Clint appreciates any and all comments about himself. He's pretty self-involved... I mean he's no Tony Stark XD, but...**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey guys thanks for all your reviews! I'm seriously so excited that you guys are excited about my story!**

 **Anyway just to answer a few questions. I said last time that this was after Age of Ultron but it's a little more AU than the MCU. Tony still has the arc reactor in his chest, Bruce didn't leave at the end, and Clint's wife is now his sister, so he still has a family he cares about, but it's not his own ((This is selfish, lol I don't want Clint to retire and I want him in this story))**

 **As for Bruce and Natasha, there may be hints of it, but I haven't decided on whether it will last or just fade into a close friendship**

 **I think that just about covers everything. Now onto the chapter!**

Peter separated from the other kids as soon as they were inside the park. He knew Liam was probably going to eat as much as he could and then find the biggest roller coaster he could, the kid had been talking about it the whole way. He wanted to create the biggest wave of Roller coaster puke.

So basically everyone was making an effort to avoid the over-zealous child. Peter felt like they should put out a park wide warning, but Liam just looked so excited. He was the one with spider powers, but Liam was still the weird kid.

"Duck!"

Someone shouted at him just as his spidey sense kicked into gear telling him he needed to do the same thing. He hit the ground quickly feeling the displacement of air just above his head. He turned sharply to see the ball make contact with the cups on the stand. The stall attendant looked thoroughly put out as all the cups fell over.

"Wow"

"Good reflexes kid."

Peter was still gaping at the empty stand but the voice startled him out of it. It was the same voice that yelled at him to duck. The man himself looked kind enough and had that sheepish sort of 'oops' look that Peter was known to wear more often than not.

He accepted the hand up and dusted off his jeans. "Nice shot, I've never seen anyone win one of these things." He commented.

"I'm an expert, it's my favorite part of coming here." The man boasted proudly, the enthusiasm in his voice made Peter smile.

"Can you do it again?"

The blonde tossed a ball up and down in his hand and smirked: "Watch and be amazed kid, I never miss."

He threw the ball in the opposite direction and Peter was sure he was being tricked or made fun of or something but then the ball bounced off another stand, a chair, and the counter of the game before finally hitting home. Peter gaped.

"How do you do that?" He was in awe.

"You impressed, you ain't seen nothin yet, that was tame."

"No way you could beat that, that had to be pure luck."

Peter didn't even know this guys name but he was too invested in the trick shots to even think about asking. Whoever he was was definitely not bluffing earlier. Each shot got more and more ridiculous, but he never missed.

"Do you have some sort of superpower or something?"

"Nope, I'm just that good."

Peter rolled his eyes but laughed. The man had a pile of prizes' beside him and he didn't look to be stopping anytime soon. The stall hand didn't look too surprised.

"How often do you clean this place out?"

"I'm only allowed here once every few months. It's an arrangement I made with the owner." Clint pouted.

"They probably can't afford you."

"It's not my fault, I'm just this good."

"And so modest too." He laughed

"I like you kid."

Peter was about to offer up his name but he was thrown off balance when the ground shook beneath his feet. He grabbed onto the stand beside him to steady himself and started paying attention.

His spider sense hit him all at once and Peter really needed to get a handle on that ability, sometimes it seemed to work amazingly and other times he felt like he missed a warning completely.

There was too much about his own abilities that Peter didn't know about, and it wasn't like he had anything substantial to practice on. He couldn't use his full abilities on people.

"Ok I don't know what that was, but maybe we should get somewhere saf-" He turned around but the guy was gone. Peter frowned. The ground had stopped shaking and he turned around trying to focus on where his spider sense was coming from.

He shook his head, his senses were going mad, it felt like there were attacks coming from all sides, but his eyes could see nothing. Peter's breathing became labored and his hand gripped the metal stand. He heard screams and he knew he needed to snap himself out of this funk.

Control it.

He told himself. He could do this, he had to.

"Are you ok?" The stall worker touched his arm in concern. Peter grabbed him twisting his arm around before he seemed to realize what he was doing. He let go as if he'd been burned pulling his hand back to his chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm fine." The scare had done its job, it had gotten Peter out of his own head. He didn't want to hurt anyone and that kept him grounded. He followed the screams. Peter may not have his suit, but he could still help people escape. He ran quickly pushing past fleeing families.

"What the-" He trailed off the curse dying on his tongue as he skidded to a halt staring up at what looked like a giant glob of sentient Lava. There was a fissure in the middle of Coney Island.

Why was it always New York?

He'd never seen anything like it, man, he really needed to start carrying his suit around with him. It seemed more and more monsters were crawling out of the woodwork. He wasn't sure if he'd even be any help in a situation like this, even if he had his suit. This wasn't like stopping a human being this was on a whole other level.

The big player, the actual heroes were on site faster than Peter thought, especially with Avenger tower half way across the city. Peter watched in half awe. That was Captain America! And Iron Man! He saw the shield fly and blue blasts raining down on the lava monster. So cool!

Focus Peter. Innocent civilians.

Lava was falling from the creature splashing down from above. Most of the people had fled but there were some who had frozen. He could see kids cowering unable to move from fear.

"Come on you gotta move." He used his strength to get them on their feet watching the sky as they ran. He kept the routine up doing his best to help and avoid the falling debris. He could feel the heat on his skin as he moved. He felt his spidey sense scream at him and looked back ready to dive to the side but his feet left the ground and Peter let out a yelp grabbing onto the arms that were holding him.

"Hey kid, I got you."

"I see that, how about putting me down now."

"Civilians are so ungrateful these days."

"I'm grateful, I'm just not that keen on heights. Cool wings though." Sam set Peter down at a safe distance. "Hey, are you Hawkeye?"

"Excuse me?" Peter could hear someone speaking probably from the man's com.

"Let it go Sam." the voice was muffled so Peter was unsure who was talking, without his advanced hearing he'd have never heard it at all.

"It's Falcon kid. Hawkeye psh." He said it like it was some sort of insult.

"You should only be so lucky to be mistaken for me." Peter gaped at the man jumping rooftops and shooting off arrows. It wasn't the moves that impressed him, but he knew that guy! No way! NO WAY.

"Might want to get out of here kid," Falcon told him and Peter nodded still gaping after Hawkeye.

"Right." He said shaking his head. He watched Falcon take off before slipping away and pulling out his camera. He knew who Hawkeye was now and where he was if he could get this picture Jameson would hire him on as an actual photographer instead of just a freelancer.

Hawkeye was up on the roof of one of the many carnival game stands. He crawled up the side of the building and raised his hand making sure to keep his head down, minimal movement was key.

Clint twitched. Peter noticed his movement and he pressed himself against the wall. He could hear the sound of footsteps.

"Hold on Tash…"

He tucked his camera in his pocket trying to think of a plan. His spidey sense curled around his senses at the same time he heard.

"HAWKEYE!"

Peter lunged to the side. He felt the heat on his skin and when he was able to pick himself up his whole left arm was red like he had the worlds worst sunburn, the hairs were singed and he grimaced at the pain. Hawkeye! He looked over at the remains of the stand it was nothing but fire and rubble. He chest constricted painfully.

It was like Aunt May and Uncle Ben all over again. There had been a fire then too. Peter felt his throat close up, he couldn't breathe. It was like he was 8 years old again. High on life after Iron man, The Iron Man had told him he'd done good.

And then just like that, it had all crashed down around him. They were there and gone again so fast.

His heart felt like it stopped beating and all he could do was stare at the flames. And then he saw them, it was him. Peter felt like he could breathe again. Hawkeye was alive. He could see him shooting arrows off the top of the Cyclone roller coaster. He leaned over and emptied his stomach, he was cold, clammy, and his skin was still crawling. But he couldn't lay there forever, the kids from the home were probably already worrying about him, they were good people that way, not to mention the lava monster, though it seemed like the Avengers were handling it alright.

He wiped his mouth on his sleeve the aftertaste of vomit making him grimace, he picked himself up off the ground and shoved his hands in his pockets to hide the shaking. It would pass.

 **AN: PLEASE REVIEW! AND THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL THE GREAT REVIEWS!**

 **Haha I bet you guys read that like I was yelling. :P**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, for all of your reviews! I really appreciate them guys!**

"Ow! Nat, I've got burns!" Clint complained via sign language. He'd taken out his hearing aids after an hour listening to the med staff on duty.

Natasha rolled her eyes and signed back "you had your back turned during the fight, why?"

"I-" Clint hesitated. There'd been no body discovered in the rubble he'd checked after the battle. No casualties at all. "I thought I sensed something, I was wrong?"

"That doesn't happen very often."

"Yeah well, the lava monster threw me off."

Natasha didn't have a reply to that she had to concede the point.

"Are you guys done with your pow wow cap wants a debrief." Tony busted in signing.

"Time out." Clint stared at Tony "When did you learn sign language."

"When you moved into my home," Tony answered. He grabbed the clipboard hanging from the end of Clint's bed looking over the medical information. "Not too bad. Next time we fight a Lava monster we should all wear sunblock."

Clint laughed mockingly and glared at Tony but there was no real heat behind it, he was too shocked to be mad. After the whole Ultron thing Tony had been on his mental shit list. He wasn't the only one who thought so either half the Avengers felt the same way. Steve was trying to be the mediator but he was having his own problems trusting Tony. It seemed the only ones not on edge about the genius was Bruce (No shocker there, science bros. Or whatever), Vision (again not a surprise Tony was like his creator… it still weirded Clint out.), and Thor (Now that one surprised Tony the god of thunder had seemed none to pleased by Ultron, but whatever messed future hallucination he'd seen had brought back his faith in Stark). He wished he could see whatever Thor saw.

It's not that he hated Tony, maybe a weird part of him understood, maybe. But Tony was mostly an asshole. Clint had asked too many times about Ultron, but he'd made it perfectly clear that he didn't want to talk about it. He'd witnessed Tony brush off any sort of questioning with jokes and fake smiles. He recognized it instantly, it was his defense mechanism.

And Clint fucking hated that, mostly because he had a feeling that if he knew the real Tony he probably wouldn't hate him. The fact that he learned sign language, it was the little things that slipped through his iron walls that made Clint aware that there was more to the man, but sometimes the genius made it so hard to accept that.

Tony snapped his fingers in front of Clint. "Hey, you there Legolas?" Clint rolled his eyes and flipped Tony off, he just smirked back. "Well, in any case, I think you should skip out on this debrief, rest or whatever it is you do in these hospital places." He looked uncomfortable surrounded by the white walls. It didn't matter that ti was a SHIELD facility, a hospital was still a hospital.

"I'm not going to complain about that, I hate debriefs, I'd rather nap"

It had been a shit night for everyone.

Frank was lucid for the first time in weeks.

He stared up at the ceiling, the other boys already asleep, he could still hear Frank's voice echoing in his ears. His screams for his money, how they'd better hand over what he was owed. How goddamn grateful they should all be for him giving them his home.

His nose still burned with the strong scent of whiskey and whatever concoction of drugs he'd ingested. It was times like that when Peter wished he could turn off the super senses.

Jess had only gotten Frank to leave by handing over whatever left over cash she had in her pocket and a reminder that his money for fostering them would be in the mail in a couple days.

Peter felt sorry for him, he was more pathetic than evil, but from all the stories he'd heard, Frank had done some truly vile things. Still, he'd rather be here than in any of his other homes. The kids were nice, if not a little weird, and he'd really started to like them.

That scared him.

He'd learned his first year in foster care not to get attached. So far it had been easy, now...

He rolled over wincing slightly at the pressure on his arm. He'd hidden it from the others, his healing factor was already working the skin had blistered and ti was gross, but the red had lessened and in another hour it would be like nothing had ever happened. The house phone was plugged into the wall charging. He flipped it open and pressed the images button finding what he was looking for and shaking his head a small smile playing on his lips.

He couldn't believe Liam of all people had gotten the photo.

That little shit, and it wasn't even on purpose.

"You're going to be a hot commodity soon Pete." Betty grinned.

Peter tilted his head in confusion "What?"

"No other photographer can get pictures like you, it's the only reason Jameson is even putting you on the payroll, he doesn't want another paper scooping you up. After they release this paper you're going to get really popular."

Peter let out a forced laugh her words dawning on him harshly. "Yeah… Uhm... hey Betty?"

"Hmm?"

"When does the new paper get published?"

"In two days, there are still a few stories we need to get worked out." She informed him before handing Peter his check. "Welcome to the Daily Bugle team, Peter." She winked and he might have blushed if he wasn't having an internal freakout.

Betty's words horrified him. Peter didn't want people to know about him or worse yet seek him out.

He needed a plan.

"I need to borrow a computer!" Peter said even before the door was closed.

"That's not how a Pawn shop works Peter."

"Come on, I'll return it, I just need it for a few hours."

"My boss will fire me, Peter."

"Come on please Ned!" Peter begged the boy behind the counter. They went to school together, he and Peter weren't super close, not that Ned wasn't an amazing friend, but it was part of Peter's no attachments policy. "I'll owe you a favor."

Ned looked like he might cave but he was still looking reluctant. "I don't know Peter…"

"You won't get fired I promise."

Ned frowned but turned around bringing forward an older model laptop "Thos ones been here a while, it's old, but-"

"It's perfect thanks, Ned. I'll have it back before you close." Peter grinned at the boy and made a mental note to hang out with him more at school.

Peter set up inside Mcdonalds. Ned was right, the computer was old doing this would take time and he hoped the processor would hold up.

His fingers flew over the keys and he barely looked up from the screen lifting his feet when an old woman in uniform came by with a broom for the third time. Peter flashed her a quick smile before he frowned at the screen.

Peter was a genius, but he was having problems with the bugs that came with Windows 8. Not only was he trying to hack the government databases but also trying to keep his borrowed computer from crashing.

He erased Peter Parker from the CPS databases and any other areas that would tell someone where he was. When he was done there would be no records of where he lived at least until PSA needed to move him.

He'd worry about that when it came.

Peter true to his word got the computer back only 30 minutes before they closed.

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing important."

Ned didn't look like he believed him, Peter smiled innocently.

"I want to know where the hell it came from."

"Well, I'd say it came from the giant crack in the earth." Tony threw out, Fury did not look amused and Steve kicked his chair in warning.

"I know that, dumbass. I want to know how."

"Umm." Bruce piped in and everyone turned to look at him. The scientist didn't look too comfortable with their attention but he continued on anyway. "While you were fighting it I had FRIDAY scanning the creature she was picking up energy signatures." Bruce explained, "They had similar reading to the tesseract."

Tony perked up looking intrigued.

Steve didn't like that look.

Fury dismissed them and Tony and Bruce were muttering to each other until Bruce nodded and left and Tony was about to follow behind when Steve stopped him

"Tony." His tone held a warning.

"Steve?" Tony said back

"Just…" Steve sighed "No more secrets."

"Trust me, Steve. I know I screwed up… But in my defense, I did fix it. Not that you trusted me then either."

"Tony."

"You believed someone you barely met over me."

"You didn't exactly have the best track record."

"I get it, Ultron, that was on me, but come on, I learn from my mistakes."

Steve felt a headache coming on and he couldn't even get headaches. That was something only Tony could manage. "I'm sorry, and I do trust you… I just know how you get with alien technology."

"If you're so worried then stop by some time. The tower isn't just meant for a hangout spot, I do have rooms there for everyone. Clint uses his, Natasha comes around sometimes. You could make an appearance more than just for business."

"I'll think about it."

"How are the baby avengers coming along."

"They aren't babies Tony, they prefer new Avengers."

"No I don't like it, that makes us the old Avengers and that's just not happening."

"They're doing fine," Steve ignored Tony "Wanda's getting better with her control, Sam loves his new wings by the way. I think with a few more training sessions they'll be ready to join us in the field. And depending on who's behind that Lava creature earlier we may need them."

"Yeah I've also got my eyes on a few vigilantes"

"No Tony."

"Not for anything major, but we might need their help one day, the people like them it's good PR." Steve rolled his eyes.

"I have to go Tony."

"I miss you already capsicle."

Another eye roll.

 **AN: I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter it was a challenge to write, but it's after this that things start to get interesting… hopefully lol.**

 **Please Review!**


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